Circuit City lands on Oregon AFL-CIO’s Do Not Patronize List

SALEM — The Oregon AFL-CIO has added Circuit City to its Unfair/Do Not Patronize List.

The action was taken Aug. 10 at the quarterly meeting of the state labor federation’s Executive Board. The request to cite Circuit City came from the Southwestern Oregon Central Labor Council in North Bend.

In March, Circuit City fired 3,400 “associates” and offered to rehire them at a lower wage. The company said it was eliminating jobs that paid “well above” market rates.

Circuit City, based in Richmond, Virginia, pays about $10 to $11 an hour, on average. Entry-level pay is around $8 an hour.

In response, Southwestern Oregon CLC President Robert Westerman sent a letter to Circuit City CEO Philip Schoonover (who was paid $8.52 million in fiscal 2006), informing him of the council’s action to place the company on its Unfair List and offering to meet with him or a representative of the store.

Via letter, Circuit City Senior Vice President Eric A. Jones Jr. told Westerman, “Our goal is to do what is in the best interest of our entire workforce. Encouraging consumers not to patronize our locations is directly contrary to their livelihoods. This fact is so plainly obvious it does not warrant any further discussion or meeting.”

Jones asked the council to reconsider its action as it “is directly contrary to the interest of those you presumably seek to serve.”

Jones further asked the council to “promote the people” of Circuit City because “they look forward to seeing as many potential customers as possible — not less.”

Executive Board members of the Oregon AFL-CIO were convinced. They voted unanimously to add Circuit City to the Unfair/Do Not Patronize List and to forward the request to the national AFL-CIO to take the same action.

Circuit City joins the following businesses on the Oregon Unfair/Do Not Patronize List:

• Wal-Mart (statewide)
• Shilo Inns (statewide)
• Plympton & Associates
• Fog Cutter Capital Group
• Granite Investments (nationwide)